The company currently controls five properties on the Einasleigh River, which the Queensland Government considers part of the Gilbert River system.

They originally approached 16 landholders on the Gilbert River, but were forced to move the project when all properties except one rejected their proposal to lease the land with the option to purchase within three years.

IFED has estimated they'll require 500,000 megalitres of water per year for the development, but Georgetown farmer Ken Fry says this amount would leave other farms in the region high and dry.

"That amount might be alright for their area, but the Gilbert River Farming Precinct itself could require 300,000 megalitres of new water if it goes ahead parallel with IFED's Einasleigh River project.

"There's 30,000 or 40,000 hectares of good farmland on the Gilbert River that will never reach its full potential."

Mr Fry says the development could also be deterring other potential investors.

"We have information to suggest two potential investors have done their research on the Gilbert River area and have walked away from it, because it all points to IFED controlling the Gilbert River area, whereas they don’t. They only control the Einasleigh River.”

The Gulf Water Resources Operation Plan, or WROP, currently restricts the amount of water that can be extracted from the Gilbert River system to 10 per cent of the total outflow.

The WROP is up for review early next year, but the amount of water that IFED aims to secure would in theory leave no more water for other farming developments in the region.

However, the Chairman of IFED, Keith De Lacy, says large-scale farming is the most worthwhile investment, as opposed to a series of small-scale projects.

"If the government is serious about getting major agricultural development, you won't get it by small, fragmented allocations of water. You need to have the size to be able to establish all the processing infrastructure that makes it work."

Mr De Lacy says they haven't applied for water yet.

"I need to make it very clear, we haven't got an allocation, and we don't expect an allocation until we go through a thorough public approval process."

The Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Mines said in a statement that the proponents of IFED would need to make a formal application for water which would then be assessed.